LIGO Scientific Collaboration Scientific LIGO issue 16 3/2020 LIGO MAGAZINE O3 update Upgrades and tweaks: Commissioning break at LIGO & Virgo Mid-O3 essential commissioning p.6 GW190425: An unusual compact binary merger First "exceptional" O3 discovery p.12 ... and the LVK take on climate change and diversity in science p.15 / p.23 Front cover Numerical-relativity simulation of the binary neutron star coalescence and merger which resulted in the gravitational wave event GW190425. The colors show the strength of the gravitational-wave signal ranging from low to high with red, yellow, green to blue. Top inset: Unlocking one of the mirrors after cleaning at LIGO Livingston during the Observing Run 3 commissioning break. Bottom inset: A second snapshot of the numerical-relativity simulation shown in the main image (see above). Image credits Photos and graphics appear courtesy of Caltech/MIT LIGO Laboratory and LIGO Scientific Collaboration unless otherwise noted. Cover: Main image and bottom inset by T. Dietrich (Nikhef), S. Ossokine, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), W. Tichy (Florida Atlantic University) and the CoRe-collaboration. Top inset from Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab. p. 3 Comic strip by Nutsinee Kijbunchoo. p. 6-11 Hanford photos by Nutsinee Kijbunchoo (p. 6-7). Livingston photos from Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab (p. 8-9). Virgo photos from EGO/Virgo Collaboration/Francescon (p. 10) and Valerio Boschi (p. 11). p. 12 T. Dietrich (Nikhef), S. Ossokine, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), W. Tichy (Florida Atlantic University) and the CoRe-collaboration. p. 14 Plot and table by LIGO/Virgo. p. 15 NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens and Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. p. 16-19 Lighting photo by Guillermo Valdes (p. 16). CAD drawing by Eddie Sanchez (p. 17). Photo by Alena Ananveva (p. 17). Plot by Corey Austin (p. 18). Plots on p. 19 by Data Quality shift operators from summary pages: https://ldas-jobs.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~detchar/summary/day/20190526/ https://ldas-jobs.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~detchar/summary/day/20190526/sei/ground_blrms_overview/ p. 20-22 Photos by Michael Weinert, p. 22 top image by Skodock, Tobias Gersch, p. 22 middle image by Nikhil Mukund p. 23-25 Photos by William Katzman. p. 26-27 Images by Jessica Steinlechner. p. 28-31 Photos by the Einstein First Project/Rahul K. Choudhary. p. 32-33 Photos from OHB-Italy / Rita Dolesi / John W. Conklin. p. 35 Photo from Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab. Back cover: Plot by Meg Millhouse. 2 Contents 4 Welcome 5 News from the spokesperson – Foreword 6 Observing Run 3: Commissioning break at LIGO and Virgo 12 Observing Run 3: GW190425 – an unusual compact binary merger event 15 Climate change & the LVK 16 Environmental noises in gravitational-wave detectors 20 GEO600: Vacuum repair with pure nitrogen 23 Outreach Beacons: Exploring the LIGO/SUBR Docent Program 26 The LAAC Corner: I finished my PhD – what now? 28 The Einstein-First Project 32 Meanwhile in space: NASA delivers first LISA prototype hardware to Europe 34 We hear that ... 35 The LIGO Magazine #16 – Masthead 36 How it works: BayesWave unmodeled waveform reconstruction Antimatter 3 Welcome to the LIGO Magazine Issue #16! Welcome to the sixthteenth issue of the LIGO Magazine! As observing run 3 (O3) draws to a close, we hear about the first “exceptional” O3 discovery from Rossella Gamba and Xingjiang Zhu in "GW190425: An unusual compact binary merger”. So far gravitational waves have been observed from compact binary mergers, but how do you look for gravi- tational waves from new or surprising types of signals? Meg Millhouse explains in this issue’s “How it works”. Last October, the observatories were taken offline for the mid-O3 commissioning break, in “O3: Commissioning break at LIGO and Virgo”, Nutsinee Kijbunchoo, Carl Blair, and Mad- dalena Mantovani describe just what went on at each of the sites and why. The bangs and bumps that affect detectors can have quite the variety of origins, from thunderstorms and earthquakes to light, as we hear from “Environmental noises in gravitational-wave detectors”. Moving over to GEO600 news, we have a tale of the difficulties of vacuum repair as told by the GEO600 operators in “GEO600: Vacuum repair with pure nitrogen / There’s a hole in my bucket”. Looking to the next generation of scientists, we hear from two schemes from around the world. At LIGO Livingston, William Katzman describes the push for diversity in science in "Exploring the LIGO/SUBR docent program" and in Australia the Einstein First team are trialing out teaching modern physics concepts to school students in "Teaching reality: at the Einstein First Project". In addition, we also have articles on the latest from the LISA mission progress, what to do after a PhD and what the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaborations are doing to reduce our climate impact. As always, please send comments and suggestions for future issues to [email protected]. Hannah Middleton, for the Editors 4 News from the spokesperson It is gratifying to look back over the past to address our major challenges. At the ten years and to think about how far we Collaboration meeting in Wisconsin, we have come as a Collaboration and as a field. will hear more about the near-term efforts, The initial LIGO detectors were decommis- the ideas to reach the sensitivity limits of sioned at the end of 2010 and the instal- the current facilities, and the plans for next lation of Advanced LIGO began. We were generation facilities. looking forward to the first detection and the beginning of gravitational-wave as- Last November, we signed an agreement tronomy. What an exciting decade it turned that establishes the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA out to be. GW150914 opened a new window collaboration. This agreement extends on black holes and GW170817 established a our vision for an international network of modern era of multimessenger astrophys- gravitational-wave detectors to carry out ics. And the detectors have transitioned to an exciting program of observational sci- full-fledged astronomical instruments. ence through this decade. The LIGO-India Patrick Brady detector represents a unique opportunity LSC Spokesperson With ten calendar months of O3 behind for our Collaboration and the global net- us, we have more than 50 detection can- work. Three LIGO detectors operating at didates that were announced publicly similar sensitivity would be transforma- within minutes of acquiring the data. We tional. So we should all work hard to make have published results on the second bi- it possible. nary neutron star merger GW190425, and we plan to submit more than 30 Collabora- A major revision of the LSC Bylaws will be tion papers over the next 12 months. This brought to a vote of the Council in March. I is an ambitious goal that will require a lot want to thank the Bylaws Committee for all of work. On the other hand, the data is the of their work on this. I think the proposed most sensitive ever taken and these papers structural changes will substantially im- will have outsized impact as a result. Please prove the Collaboration. Please discuss this get involved! with your Council representatives so that any lingering concerns can be addressed Over the next 5 years, detector upgrades before the vote. will be interleaved between observing runs with the goal of increasing LIGO’s reach for The LSC is a great place to work and play. compact binary mergers by almost 3 times Sometimes, open scientific discussion may in distance. The research, development, include passionate exchanges and inter- and engineering needed to make this a actions. The strength of our collaboration reality is challenging. As we know from lies in our ability to embrace new insights past experience, it’s extremely important while acknowledging the many contribu- to pursue multiple approaches to improv- tions that make our scientific output excel- ing the detectors including those that look lent. Please be respectful of each other at past the concrete plans. So we must con- all times. Discuss the merits of issues. Pay tinue to foster a vibrant instrument science careful attention to the origin of ideas and research program across the Collabora- give appropriate credit. Listen with the tion. We should take every opportunity to intention to understand. If you have con- bring the best people and ideas together cerns about the LSC, talk to me! 5 O3: Commissioning break at LIGO & Virgo Observing Run 3: Upgrades & tweaks Working inside the vacuum chamber at Hanford. Nutsinee Kijbunchoo ommissioning breaks are opened and then slowly restored is a third year PhD student temporary pauses in obser- to vacuum once work is completed. working on quantum optics Cvation runs where the detectors Then the detectors are brought at the Australian National are upgraded and repaired. Observ- back into observation mode. University, and has so far ing Run 3 (O3) started on 1 April spent about half the time 2019 and will last for a year. Commissioning breaks are key to at LIGO Hanford. “I lab, improving the sensitivity of the drink, and draw things”. The mid-O3 commissioning break detectors and reduce noise. The took place from 1 October to 1 No - binary neutron star (BNS) range of Hanford Commissioning break vember. During this time essential a detector indicates how far away The commissioning break started on Octo- works are carried out which require it could find a BNS inspiral signal ber 1st, 2019 and lasted a whole one month.